


A Small Prayer

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Armin has a cafe, Jean is still an asshole, Multi, amnesiac!eren, painter!eren, sort of, student!petra, teenager!erwin, teenager!hanji, writer!levi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-07
Updated: 2015-05-03
Packaged: 2018-02-12 05:13:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2097048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reincarnation was a bizarre system, Levi was sure of that.You could come back as anything, and if you were given the privilege to come back a human, there wasn't even a slight chance that you'd remember your past life. The Special Operations Squad did, so they were more than a little surprised when they found Eren didn't. Levi would've preferred staying dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Pink Paint

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my first SNK fic, so it probably isn't the best out there, but read and enjoy!

* * *

_Outside the walls, year 860_

Levi was standing on the shore, right before the vast amount of salty water that was the ocean. It stretched as far as he could see, glistening brilliantly with the radiant light of the setting sun. Ripples and waves were continuously being swayed towards him by the gentle breeze, bringing also the nose-burning smell of salt and seaweed. He was so near to the clear, glimmering water that he could practically see the foam retreating from where the waves dissolved once again to serene and still water, could see the seashells and even some fish far up ahead when he squinted his eyes.

Levi marveled at how terrifyingly beautiful it looked. The water was soothingly surging forward and drawing back, with a rhythm that Levi was regrettably foreign to, as if it was one with the wind, just as free, just as destructive.

_Just like him._

He clicked his tongue with discomfort.

"Tch."

His eyes reflexively fixed themselves again to the view, trying to distract his troubled mind with the scene of relaxing ripples moving smoothly on the surface of the ocean.

_Turquoise… the color of his eyes._

This time, Levi openly clenched his fist, gritted his teeth, and with a violent turn, stormed off. He didn't bother look up and determine where it was that he was heading to, he had repeated the same routine so many times over the past years that he had practically memorized all the turns and steps he was supposed to take in order to reach that particular location.

He _hated_ that place.

His feet would drag him there on random occasions, sometimes he'd be in the middle of a very important meeting, sometimes eating, other times cleaning like he had to purify every single atom that existed on the surface of the whole planet.

He didn't know why his goddamn pair of legs was so adamant on bringing him to this place. Everyone that knew Levi on a personal level, which was mostly being granted a greeting to their person by Levi, mind you, would know that he wanted everything organized, neat, impeccable, and perfect. No unscheduled event could take place in his presence; no uniform could be worn sloppily, paperwork filled lazily, or breaks taken randomly. Levi wanted to know what was going on and make sure that everything was in check even more than before now, because of what had happened to-

_Damn it all._

When he hit his foot and felt a dull ache, his eyes finally found the large rocks that had been placed in a line, almost like a border.

Which it was.

Lilies had been planted just a few inches behind them, and Levi skipped over them with one swift motion. He finally decided to glance ahead; he maybe knew the directions that led here, but up from this point, Levi would have to look around for one particular place.

In a graveyard.

It was not a common thing that one could always see, definitely not, what was common was burning the bodies of the dead. Land had been scarce before, after all, with no place to spare for things such as cemeteries.

There were no walls now though, nothing damning them to a life of imprisonments, nothing keeping them from exploring and conquoring and discovering.

They were free.

This memorial park had been arranged for the people that had granted humanity the freedom they had now, and, personally, Levi loathed the place with every fibre of his being. His desire to avoid it was so strong that he had been against it being built in the first place, even tried to destroy it once, but hadn't been able to.

The place held too many of his goddamned memories. Levi had lost many comrades over his years of being a soldier, so much that he hadn't even counted after his first year. He was a peculiar man; Levi only needed a cause to accomplish, something to strive for, or a single little piece of hope to cling to, be it strong or fleeting, he would be as devoted to it as a German dog to its master, would take any means possible to ensure it happened.

And he had sent these people to their deaths for it.

Of course, there was always the chance that they could die on missions. This little group had known that better than anyone else, even better than experienced veterans, and they had put their lives and honor away to achieve victory. They had stained their hands with blood of others, become corrupted by Levi's way of doing things, and Levi himself had never been held responsible for their actions. He had given them a door of escape, to freedom, to a pure life and a death of honor, but they had walked beside him anyway, fully aware of the consequences of what they were doing.

Maybe they had died heroes, but they had been prepared to die traitors as well.

No, maybe if not for one of the bloodstained things he had done, just one, Levi would've gotten over this too, but it was impossible at this point, not when Levi had committed the one sin he had never thought would be his.

He had killed one of them with his own two hands.

With a sigh, Levi noticed that he had already arrived.

He stopped right before the tombstone placed in the middle and crouched down, sitting on the grass that he didn't know how had appeared.

_Eren Jaeger_

Levi stared blankly, almost lifelessly, at the name.

His tombstone had been placed between his two best friends', surrounded by the others from his graduating class, and the people who had followed the small hope that had been him.

"What are you staring at, corporal?"

Levi's head snapped up at the familiar voice.

"Who are you?"

Levi could see clearly who he looked like to be the exact replica of, but he couldn't bring himself to believe that the image of him sitting on the tombstone was real, so he assumed his most formal tone that he used to lecture juniors.

"That's rude, corporal. Don't tell me you forgot my face already?"

"Who in the fucking hell are you?"

The teen chuckled.

"That's so like you, _Levi_."

Levi flinched at the tone. He had seen more than one strange occurrence in his life, but no one except one specific person had dared to call him with his name _and_ use that tone with him at the same time.

And Levi was sure as _hell_ that he was _dead_.

The very person that had called him _that_ had spent a ridiculous amount of time and effort to actually be able to do it naturally, so Levi knew from experience, no one could copy that so easily, and he daresay, without affection.

"Ah well, you have aged, maybe that's why. Has your memory been declining lately?"

Levi gritted his teeth.

Too casual. He was too fucking casual. Only _he_ had been this relaxed around him.

"I asked your identity, intruder."

The teen sighed.

"Alright, alright, you really have forgotten. Eren Jaeger, remember? From the 104th trainees squad?"

Levi's voice was as calm as he could possibly manage.

"You are an impostor. What is your real identity?"

"That's just ouch."

Levi didn't bother answer, trying to read him and his movements with his usually piercing gaze.

It didn't work.

Only _he_ had managed to avoid that, and that had only happened _once_.

"It's been a long while, hasn't it? Lets see…ah, ten years have already passed! How have you been doing, corporal?"

And that was, ladies and gentleman, officially Levi's limit.

"Don't screw with me."

He managed to hiss through gritted teeth,

"How can you be here?"

The teen rolled his eyes.

"It's not like I can go anywhere else."

Levi's senses returned to him.

"Who are you?"

"Eren."

And Levi finally dared to voice the forbidden word.

"Eren is _dead_."

"I _know_."

Levi couldn't help but reconsider, as ridiculous as it was. Eren had always been the very personification of hope to everybody, and he had held that up until the bitter end.

 _Eren_ was hope.

And for Levi, something much more than just that. Before him, Levi had been nothing more than an uptight soldier that Erwin and Hange had futilely tried to crack the shell of, seemingly devoid of emotions, cold, and distant. Then, when _he_ had entered his life, Levi hadn't even trusted him as a person and instead took account only of the potential salvation he could bring to the human race.

Then, he had started to know Eren as himself. The boy had been two things, a promising soldier, and, something completely different, an overly determined, annoyingly loud little brat. Levi hadn't particularly liked him at first, but Eren had, like a sorcerer, mystically managed to change almost everything that was Levi, and become a necessary existence.

Levi had never admitted or declared it out-loud, Eren had never required it to be said in order to know, but Levi had loved him.

And his feelings had been reciprocated.

So, when it was Eren being spoken of, who himself was hope, miracle, and mystery combined, even a realist such as Levi himself would rethink and reconsider.

Levi wanted desperately to cling to that slight, almost inexistent hope anyway.

To free himself of the heavily burdening responsibility of what he had done to Eren, and maybe, just maybe, because he had missed him.

 _Terribly_.

"Eren."

The teen gave no visible response, so Levi inquired further.

"Brat, I'm asking if this's you."

At this point, even Levi's iron self control wasn't enough to contain all the hidden desperation and the hopeful want he felt, some of it slipping out unintentionally.

"Who?"

Eren sounded foreign.

"Eren?"

Levi asked again.

Eren laughed a good long laugh, almost hysterical.

"Ah, corporal, Eren's dead."

Levi's hope was yet to slip away.

"You said that you were Eren."

The teen chuckled.

"Corporal, you know best of all that Eren's indeed very much dead,"

Levi wanted to cut his ears off at this point,

"After all, weren't you the one that killed him?"

* * *

_**Present day** _

Levi frowned as he checked the time on his rather shiny Rolex. _2.43._ Even though he had sunglasses shielding his eyes from the harmful rays of the sun, and because he had fortunately foreseen that he'd need sunscreen his skin would still be pristine white when he was home again, he was sweating like fuck in his dark blue polo shirt and pair of black shorts, although he was in his car and it was less boiling than it was outside. The air conditioning system in his car wasn't really able to cool the air completely, since Levi had an arm outside his window to keep the cigarette he was smoking outside his car. He maybe smoked, but reeking of such a horrid smell was against his policies.

Looking around at all the people wearing short ass skirts, shorts, and thin, cotton t-shirts, he probably looked like he was about to attend a funeral, or like some freaky vampire with all the avoiding sun and wearing black crap.

Levi didn't know why he had agreed to go along with Hanji and Erwin's plans anyway. The two had come up with this most fantastic idea to get Levi to socialize, since said raven-haired man wasn't really a fisher for friends, and Hanji had half-blackmailed, half-persuaded Levi into catching a movie with them.

Of course, it was for their benefit too, Hanji was many kinds of idiot and annoying, but definitely not stupid, after all.

Since they were freaking _teenagers_ , and both had extremely overprotective parents, Levi was their excuse to go out freely and have fun until they were high.

Clearly, reincarnation didn't work the way Levi would've supposed it did.

Of course, they remembered their old lives regardless of their ages, and Levi had to admit, it was funny to see a kid Erwin with the mentality of a veteran who had lost many things to war, but thanks to the normal and relaxing lifestyle Erwin now had, Levi rarely ever saw him act like his old self. He was at some point even grateful, Erwin hadn't gotten a childhood in his past life, and so he was having as much fun as he could, and whether Levi liked to admit it or not, Erwin was one of his few friends, probably close enough to call his best friend, at some point even a brother, but Levi wasn't cheesy like that, no.

A younger Hanji had absolutely no difference to an older one, except maybe now she was a bit more absurd than before, not being in a war and not having to fight for one's life probably had that effect on people, Levi guessed. Both were highschoolers, and as luck would have it, attending the same school.

Levi uttered a rather colourful chain of curses. He was already half an hour late.

The café that Hanji had chosen as meeting place, Café Titania, was at least ten minutes away if he drove, judging by the traffic, and there was a possibility that they couldn't make it in time to the movie if they wasted any more time. For Levi, who took pride in his skills of organizing and pre-scheduling stuff, this was a shaming failure.

So, when a car flashed away at speed and the one in front of his soon followed it, Levi thanked every single deity he could think of, since he was practically saved from Hanji's mockery that he had been sure would eat away at his brains.

With a two-minute drive that Levi spent mumbling to himself about brats and how they were tiresome, the sign that said _Café Titania_ entered his sight. Levi parked his black Porsche in a spot that was, fantastically, empty, before practically running to the café.

He threw the doors open, and the cool air hit him in the face as soon as he did. Apparently, the air conditioner was working pretty well.

As expected, Hanji and Erwin were sitting at the closest table to the counter, talking to a blonde, blue eyed, rather tall man. Levi composed himself and calmly made his way towards them, Hanji barely noticing him before Levi snatched the glass of coke in her hands that was by the look of it untouched, but in danger of being sipped from in seconds.

Good, Levi wouldn't so much as _touch_ something that another had eaten or drunk from.

"Hey!"

"Shut up, four-eyes. Outside is fucking _hell_ right now, and I'm thirsty."

Levi couldn't down it like he wished he could have, since the acidy drink burned his throat, but before either Erwin or Hanji could say anything else, the glass was empty and discarded on the table.

"That was just…interesting, Levi."

He spared a glance at Erwin, and his gaze was just screaming "shut up", mind you, but the younger man was not affected by it, having known Levi for over a lifetime.

"If you want, I could bring you something cold to drink."

Levi turned his head in the opposite direction,

"Put it in a thermos, brat, I haven't got enough time to spare. While you're at it, get Connie to put some alcohol in it."

"Aren't you going to drive?"

"Yeah. Got a problem?"

The blond man shook his head with a serious face, as though it was a life death situation, his almost waist length ponytail flying back with the sharp turn he made, almost running to the kitchen.

"Ah Armin, can you bring me a can of coke too?" Hanji shouted, trying futilely to glare daggers into Levi.

Armin made a motion with his hand that told Hanji he had heard what she said and hurried away, into the kitchen.

Levi, Erwin and Hanji were regular customers of Armin's café. Frankly, Levi didn't know why the other two were so fond of the place, but his reason for always coming here was having a little bit of privacy and the incredibly serene atmosphere the place had. Café Titania was neighbor to two other cafes that were far more crowded and spacious than Armin's humble workplace, but they were lacking in terms of being relaxing; with the loud music torturously banging and ruining Levi's ears, people constantly talking, laughing, and looking at him, orders taking forever to arrive, and not to mention that it was impossible to gather one's mind to actually do something useful. Those kinds of places were just too crowded for his taste, and Levi, who had seen about every major country in the world, could say that the ambience that Armin's café provided was unique to this place.

Of course, there was the fact that most of the members of the Special Operations Squad were always gathered in this café too.

Connie, Sasha, and Jean were working in the café. Apparently, Sasha was an excellent cook, and Connie, since the two were together, had learned how to make amazing coffee and cocktails, while Jean was serving as a waiter. Armin was mostly just the brain anyway, so having the extra help was welcome.

Hanji and Erwin were allowed to this place even when adults or Levi wasn't with them, because apparently their parents found Armin to be a "reliable young man", and when they had time, they were always here.

The only person that not everyone had met yet was Historia, who had been reincarnated as a freaking _princess_ , but Levi was sure that she at least exchanged letters with the other brats.

The Titan Shifter group was alive and well too, Levi noted, although he took no pleasure at all in seeing them. As it had been with Hanji and Erwin, Ymir had de-aged; she was attending the kindergarten division of the two aforementioned students' school, although Reiner, Annie and Berthold had, like the other members of the Special Operations Squad, aged, now teachers at said school.

Which was precisely why Levi had made the mistake of picking up Hanji and Erwin only _once_ , and would _never_ repeat it.

Levi knew that he couldn't reprimand them for their actions in their past lives, since they led new ones now and weren't criminals in this one, but the weight of the sin they had committed against humanity was so great, Levi could never forgive them, or look at their faces without feeling disgusted.

So, he had decided that avoiding them was better than getting arrested for murder, which he probably wouldn't mind if he could indeed kill them.

He had met all these people by _accident_ of course, as if fate and God had conspired and played a sick joke on them, hitting the shuffle button bringing them all together again at random places and random times.

Mikasa, however, was a weird case.

Levi noticed that he had a new Whatsapp message, sliding his finger over his phone's screen and unlocking it.

The message was from one of his sisters.

_ I won't be home for a week. Petra is with me. Business trip. _

Levi sighed.

He knew for a fact that Petra was definitely not with Mikasa and instead probably outside, having fun with Auruo, Erd, and Gunter, but he let it slide just this once, since it was most likely that Petra would be joining Mikasa tonight, or in the worst case, tomorrow.

He didn't even know when they had turned into a real family, but it had happened anyway.

When he was about eight and had been thrown out by his third foster family (foster families never seemed to like him), a very rich, and I mean _filthy_ rich, man and his wife had adopted him. They had treated him no different than they treated their own daughter (Levi was grateful for that), Petra, and Levi had actually went into shock upon finding that she was the _real_ Petra, and that she had her memories just like him. By the time he was thirteen though, the real shock had come.

Mikasa had been adopted into the family too. Of course, Levi had questioned her about her memories, Mikasa remembered just like everyone, and shitty as it had been, they had lived the last fifteen years together. There was a seven-year age gap between him and Petra, and about three years with Mikasa, so it had been a mild surprise when Mikasa had taken over the business this year, when their father had declared that he was going to pass it down. Levi had his own shit to mind, and Petra was still a student anyway, but Mikasa was a genius in business, apparently.

What was even more surprising than the fact that Mikasa and Levi had actually warmed up to each other was that even though Mikasa had had a different family in the past, with Eren's parents, and Petra had had an actual family anyway, they had all come together, like someone had tied them with a string, just like how Levi had one day found this café, and everyone in it.

And the only one from the past that no one had heard of was _him_.

Eren.

Mikasa had searched and searched and probably was still searching for him, but he was nowhere to be found, nowhere reachable or detectable.

So, Levi had grudgingly accepted that he never would be able to see Eren again.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Armin handed Levi a thermos bottle, and Levi was sure that there was long island iced tea inside it; Connie would never dare put little alcohol in his drinks, and said drink was, by far, his favourite. He got up, watching as Armin handed Erwin and Hanji two cans of Coca Cola, and they exited the place. Armin would write it down, and Levi would pay at the end of the week anyway.

"Come on, brats."

"I don't remember being a brat, Levi." Erwin said, switching to his old self.

"I _am_ fourteen years older, so suck it and follow me if you want a ride."

Hanji and Erwin obediently followed Levi.

* * *

When Levi was back to the café, he was sure that he had spent the worst day of his life.

First, because of Hanji's need to stop every five minutes, they hadn't actually been able to make it to the movie Levi had wanted to see, biography of "some weird guy" as titled by Hanji, and said eccentric person had dragged both Erwin and Levi to watch some low-budget science fiction movie. Fortunately, it hadn't taken too long for the film to end, although to Levi's dismay, Hanji had managed to alter his GPS and lead him to an amusement park instead of the nearest McDonalds.

He sometimes forgot that Hanji used to be the head of experiments in their old life and that she was a computer genius in this one.

Regardless, since even Erwin had been having fun, Levi had agreed to stay for a while. The amusement park was a little bit away from a lake that Levi had heard had very nice scenery(what WAS a lake doing in a city anyway, just how far had Hanji made him drive) so he had driven there and decided to spend his time reading a book or something. When he had gone there though, Levi had found that the idea to swim was good enough anyway. Since he was always carrying spare clothes in his car (because you never know what God's gonna throw in your face and Levi won't be caught off-guard, nuh uh), and a pair of board shorts was amongst them, Levi had left everything in there, locked the car, and taken a dip.

It was hot, really very hot, so much that if someone were to leave a glass of water outside, it would probably evaporate in less than an hour, and if it weren't for the heat, Levi would've never swam in a place that he wasn't sure was clean, but the water was as shiny as crystals and he could see through it perfectly, so he had decided that this could be an exception.

Of course, water was good for Levi, but unfortunately, not so good for his car keys.

Levi had taken his keys with him, having put them in his board shorts reflexively.

When he got out, Levi openly cursed himself for getting a Porsche and not some normal car that had normal keys. His were mechanical, and water and mechanics weren't really matching things. When Levi found that the keys were not working, he first did a small brainstorm on what to do, being not exactly able to think clearly.

His house keys were also in the car, and there was no way he could get in their goddamned penthouse without those after all the effort Mikasa had put into finding the best door. His car had spare keys, but one was in his room and the other with Mikasa, so those were impossible to reach. He considered calling his adopted sisters, but Petra probably had her phone on mute and Mikasa was outside the city, not to mention that his phone too was in his car, beside the keys. Catching a taxi would be impossible, and he didn't have his wallet anyway, so, Levi concluded, the only way he could go back to the amusement park was to walk.

Seriously, Levi would've been fine with all this, except one thing that was just gross for him.

He was wearing nothing but board shorts, and those were _wet_.

Levi walked back to the amusement park, burned because the sunscreen he had put on wasn't water resistant and the main bottle was still in his goddamned car. He ignored the people as he walked past them, not minding the weird stares he got.

When he found Hanji and Erwin, Hanji was trying to get high on cotton candy, and Erwin trying to calm her. Of course, Levi couldn't stop Hanji from making fun of him and laughing until her stomach hurt too much to do so, and couldn't keep Erwin from making witty comments about his attire, but he used their phones to call their parents.

Erwin's mom decided to give Levi a ride and do him a favour; since this was the first time something like this had happened.

And Levi still was in his freaking _board shorts_.

She had driven Levi back to Café Titania, and when Armin, surpassing a laugh, came over to ask him what in the name of sanity he was wearing, Levi couldn't have cared any less.

"Shut up, brat. Get Connie to make me another long island."

Armin hadn't even moved when Levi turned and walked inside the kitchen.

Sasha didn't notice that someone had entered the kitchen immediately, too busy cooking something, but Connie did, frozen solid when he noticed who it was and what said person was wearing.

"Listen to me, shitty brat," Levi said with a voice as little irritated as he could manage, but it sounded scarier to Connie the more he tried,

"First find me some clothes. Then give me Armin's phone and make me another Long Island. Simple. Got it?"

Connie gulped.

"Yes sir."

* * *

 

So that was why Levi sat sipping his beloved drink, hair slightly wet but still neat, Armin's oversized shorts and Connie's alcohol-reeking t-shirt on him, said blond man's phone in hand.

He found Mikasa on Armin's contacts, ignoring the hearts and other lovey-dovey things that Armin had seen fit for typing next to his sister's name (when was that brat going to man up and tell him that they were dating?), and sent her a text message.

_Mikasa._

Mikasa was usually early to answer phone calls or text messages, but the speed surprised even Levi.

_ Armin  _

_I'm Levi._

_Oh. _

_My wallet, house keys and phone are in my car, but the keys aren't working._

He avoided telling her that he had actually swam in a lake with his car keys in his pocket, mostly because he knew that Mikasa would find this to be valuable for blackmailing and mocking purposes.

_Stay over at Armin's or Erwin's. I don't care._

_That's what I was planning_ , _but do you think you can send my keys with someone?_

_I left those in the apartment._

Well, this was just shitty.

_Petra?_

_I need her to help me with stuff._

_Shit._

_Take care. _

At times like this, Levi absolutely hated Mikasa.

That was when he heard a mild clatter coming from the far back of the café. Levi wasn't usually curious so he just continued to sip his drink and mind his own business, until he actually heard Jean stutter.

"Y-you… couldn't be…"

Now now, what was it that had managed to get Jean to act so much like a damn sissy?

Levi glanced over.

His heart almost stopped.

* * *

What brought Levi back to his senses was Armin's incredulous voice.

"Do you see what I see?"

"What, the broken teacup?" Levi answered, too distracted.

"No."

"Jean?"

"The other one."

That was when Levi decided to get up and walk over to where the commotion was taking place, Armin hot on his tail.

While Levi was busy staring at the person that had caused Armin's fine china porcelain teacup's demise, said man firmly held Jean's shoulder and led him elsewhere, both stealing glances to their backs after every two steps.

Levi flopped down onto the empty chair, lighting a cigarette.

"Hey there, brat."

Said man looked up from the mess that had once held his Earl Grey tea.

"Are you even old enough to call me a brat?"

No, Levi was sure that this kid was indeed Eren, just an older, taller and more muscular version of him.

"Probably."

"You shouldn't smoke indoors, you know."

Levi cocked an eyebrow.

"You have a problem with that?"

"Actually I don't, but there are kids inside the café, maybe it would be better if you asked them."

Eren had indeed gotten better with witticism.

Levi exhaled but continued smoking anyway.

"They're out of the vicinity."

"Your choice then, Superman."

They stayed silent for a while, Eren fiddling with his phone and Levi taking his appearance in with a lopsided grin.

"Listen, I'm really thirsty, and those waiters are looking at me as if I'm a freaking ghost, so I would appreciate it if you had something I could drink."

"Long Island?"

"You drink _and_ smoke?"

"Nobody's perfect."

"Well, whatever. I can handle _that_ little alcohol anyway."

It was nowhere little, but he shrugged anyway.

Levi nodded and brought his half finished long island iced tea from where he had left it, and Eren gratefully accepted the drink, downing it in one swig.

"Woah, you don't look like the type to be able to handle liquor, take it easy."

"Nah, I've drunk heavier things. Besides, this shit tastes nice."

"I have great taste."

"Sure do. By the way, what's your name?"

Levi froze.

"You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm not. Do I know you by any chance?"

Levi couldn't say anything for a few seconds, until Eren waved his hand in front of his face to wake him up.

"Levi Ackerman."

"Oh my god, are you the author of the 'Titans' Age' series?"

Levi nodded dumbly, trying to process the information in his head.

"I'm Eren Jaeger, nice to meet you."

He stared a bit more.

"Excuse me for a moment."

* * *

"What do you mean he doesn't remember? We all remember!"

Levi rolled his eyes.

"But _he_ doesn't, Armin."

After Levi had successfully dragged Jean and Armin into the kitchen, Sasha had thought that the world for sure was ending, but it apparently was a different issue.

Levi watched as Armin went into thinking mode.

"He was missing parts of his memory in the past too, but forgetting his whole life is just…weird. Amongst us, I mean."

Levi knew that he wasn't supposed to make any sound, as did the others, because Armin in thinking mode would talk to _himself,_ and if you disturbed him, you'd have to wait for him to remember what he was saying.

"That was caused by his father so… Does anyone know how Eren died?"

Armin had died just a little bit before they had achieved victory, so had Mikasa, which was probably why he didn't know of what had happened to Eren.

"Because there are two types of amnesia. One is like you're forced to forget, happens when you're hit in the head or something, and the other is a person locking their own memories away when something that he doesn't want to remember happens. Either way, it all comes down to how Eren died."

Levi gritted his teeth.

There was no way Sasha, Connie, or Jean would know, none of them had seen the end of the war anyway. Levi was the only one that had made it except Eren, and presumably the only one that knew how said brunette had died.

_Shit, shit, shit, fucking shit._

Levi hurriedly exited the room and sat back beside Eren.

"Oh, you're back."

"Yeah."

His voice was a bit strained, but luckily, Eren didn't notice it.

"So, why are you wearing those oversized things?"

Obviously, Eren had watched him rather closely.

"Long story short, my keys, clothes, and phone are in my car, and I can't unlock its doors."

"Sounds pretty shitty."

"It is."

Eren continued texting someone, Levi had decided that it was what he was doing by the look of it, and looked up a few moments later.

"Where do you live?"

"You know the Trump Tower residences?"

Everyone used them to give directions, since they were so eye catching and all, so Eren probably did anyway.

"Which one?"

"Spade."

"Floor?"

"Top. And before you ask, left."

Levi was mildly surprised by how many details Eren had asked for.

"Good, we're neighbors. I just moved into the one on the right, on the top floor."

Levi was glad that Eren hadn't left him anything to drink, since he was sure he would've spilled it out.

"I could give you a ride if you have anyone to open the door to your apartment."

Eren was a nice person, even in this life.

Levi shook his head.

"Not for a week, my sisters are on a business trip."

"Unfortunate."

"Yeah."

Levi was starting to get irritated by the amount of Whatsapp messages Eren received, since the notifications came with the most annoying sound he had ever heard.

"Do you have anywhere to go?"

"Gonna call a few friends."

A few messages later, Eren was speaking to him again.

"Listen, I don't want this to sound weird, and I promise I'm not going to try anything weird, but since we're neighbours and all, you could stay with me for the week. I mean only if you want to. Like… god, I still sound suspicious as fuck."

Levi would've chuckled or at least done something of the sort if not for his bad mood. Honestly, Eren had never been the sharpest knife in the drawer even in his past life, but Levi wouldn't have thought he'd be naïve enough to invite someone he had technically just met to his house.

"You'd offer your house to a complete stranger?"

Eren looked sheepish.

"Well, you look trustworthy."

Levi raised an eyebrow.

"That's it?"

"Y-Okay well, I might've acted a little too casual around you, but it's because I feel like I know you, okay? Which comes with a sense of trust, naturally."

Levi still didn't quite get it, but it appeared that even if Eren didn't have his memories, he had at least the _feelings_ of the past Eren.

Because Levi was sure that from outside, in his current attire of wet hair, overly baggy and alcohol-reeking clothing, added to the fact that he drank and smoked, and as a bonus that his eyes were mostly steel blue orbs screaming "yeah bitch, of course I'm better than you", he probably looked as trustworthy as a criminal freshly out of jail.

"And I checked that phone over there."

Eren pointed at the table that Levi previously had been sitting at.

Levi had been wrong, reincarnation had indeed made Eren a lot cleverer.

* * *

The drive was more or less comfortable for Levi.

Admittedly, Eren's car _was_ a bit ridiculous. The outside of his BMW was a bright, almost too shiny, orange, and the inside was a dark navy blue, perfect contrast to the vehicle's outer shell. Since Eren obviously didn't smoke, and Levi had manners too good to smoke in someone else's car without their permission, the windows were closed, and the air conditioning system was doing a brilliant job with easing the pain that Levi had just started feeling from his newly earned, bright fluorescent-red sunburns.

Levi didn't know what he was feeling anyway.

When he looked thoroughly into himself, he knew that he was more than a little disappointed that Eren didn't remember his past life, or more specifically speaking, _him_. Because quite frankly, Levi fuzzily remembered the time before he had met the annoying kid, and it was nothing more than going on missions with his team or Erwin and Hanji trying to form some sort of friendship with him, mind you, and the time after Eren had died was almost a complete blur. It was like this with all of them, they all remembered the parts of their lives that they had held precious, with gaping holes between memories.

The time Levi had spent with Eren _had_ been precious.

Levi's world had been, and still was, like a pure white canvas that had drops of colourful paint on it, his life was blank, with no significant meaning, with slight colours like Erwin, Hanji or his squad. Eren had changed that, at first with the green that he had smeared over Levi's life, hope, with the occasional dots and spots of yellow that were his happiness, then by the red of sacrifice that he had painted on it, lastly by the despairing blue that had rained down on the whole thing. Eren had coloured his world. He had shown him what happiness and delight was, what trusting someone utterly and completely felt like, and regrettably, what sort of heavy blow losing all that would be. Eren had taught him how to live.

Levi didn't like to admit he had been changed, and he doubted any human being would admit something like that, but Eren had changed him. He wasn't even sure if the teen knew, since Eren tended to have that sort of affect on people, with his seemingly endless pits of eyes, unwavering determination, and earnest, sincere feelings that he didn't mind share no matter what it was.

All in all, if Levi was given a chance at a life with Eren, free of Titans and all that bullshit, but Eren didn't have his past memories, he'd jump at it. He couldn't really say that he didn't feel at least a tad sad that Eren couldn't share their previous life with him anymore, but Levi was content enough to have Eren with him in this one.

Of course, there was the fact that he wouldn't entirely be free of the guilt that plagued his mind all the time, but fuck all that shit for now.

Levi was happy.

"-vi! Levi! Oh my god, are you even listening?"

Levi snapped put of the trance he had been in.

"What?"

"We're here."

As they walked to Eren's new apartment, Levi, for the first time, actually paid Eren's appearance some real attention instead of just looking at his face like an idiot. The brunet was wearing loose cargo shorts and a plain white t-shirt, hair as messy as always, if not a little bit longer. There wasn't much change with his face, the big turquoise orbs that were probably defying the law of creation itself still on his face and as shiny as ever, the only visible difference being that Eren had actually matured.

True dat.

Eren was older than Levi had ever seen him, presumably over his early twenties already. He was a lot taller than him now, taller than he previously had been, Levi grudgingly noted, still well tanned, albeit with a more muscular build that Levi was sure his extra years and practice of sports had granted him.

Then he noticed a potentially very, very important thing that he might've missed, slapping himself mentally.

He wasn't someone going around telling people how rich he was, because really, he was rich as _fuck_ , with his books having already broken Henry Trotter's record and selling like ice cream on a hot day, plus the company's funds under his hand, but he was more silent-mocking type than rub-it-in. Not showing people didn't change that he had a crap load of money though, and that he had paid a huge amount to get this apartment. Really, anyone who lived in the four towers was either a celebrity or just somehow very wealthy, the Spade Tower being the place that the actual owners only sold to important people.

And there was no way Mikasa would've failed in finding Eren if he was, indeed, _that_ well known.

Eren came to an abrupt stop and started to wildly search his pockets for his keys. Something fell down from one of Eren's larger ones, and Levi, being the kind gentleman he definitely was, bent down to pick it up.

Paint. It was a tube of paint. Pink paint, to be specific.

"Are you a painter?" Levi asked.

"Sort of."

Eren, finally having found his keys, pointed at his colourfully decorated mailbox that was next to his door.

_Ellen Jaguar_

Even Levi couldn't keep his surprise hidden.

"You're _freaking_ Ellen Jaguar."

Eren nodded again, and not after a second, the door was open. He readily stepped in, stretched a bit, threw his apartment's and car's keys on the weird red table that was just next to where he had his shoe cabinet.

"Wanna come inside?"

When Levi didn't walk in, Eren felt like he had to ask.

Levi did as Eren said.

Eren was fucking _Ellen Jaguar_.

Ellen Jaguar was every artist and writer's dream to work with. Anything related to art was his expertise, which included designing clothes, painting, even making logos, and to work with him would cost a fortune, because everything he had made up to date had never failed whatever purpose it had been made for. When he helped with the picture on some canned tomatoes those would sell, when he designed clothes they'd be ordered months before release, and when he drew a book's cover, that book was sure to make it to the Bestsellers. No one had ever seen this guy's face though, he mostly worked with proxies, and he had no solid company to his name. Levi had tried to get him to make his latest book's cover, but he had been refused rather bluntly, although still through a proxy.

Levi was an admirer of his anyway. He had gotten his hands on a painting of his about a month ago, _Leviathan_ it was called if he remembered correctly, and Levi had paid a fortune to get that, damn thing had cost more than his freaking apartment. Each time Levi made himself a pot of tea, he'd sit on an armchair that he had placed in front of the painting and stare at it until he was tired, look at and take in every small detail of the overly realistic piece of art. That was what made Ellen's paintings unique, no one could make out the difference between a painting of his and the real actual scene of it, or a photo.

He hadn't known that Eren had a talent for art, and Ellen's wasn't just _talent_ , it was _genius_.

Levi had found that he himself was talented in literary things a short while after he had joined the Survey Corps, and he had written in his past life too, just not professionally. Everyone was pretty much the same as they once had been, Armin still was a clever kid, Sasha was still obsessed with food, and Mikasa was still classified a wonder child. Maybe Eren hadn't known it in his past life either, since all he had ever done back then was fight Titans and train to fight Titans, or maybe he had known and hidden it from all of them, but regardless, Levi felt a little offended that he didn't know.

Levi noticed that he knew next to nothing about Eren only after that.

"I'm going to make some coffee. Want some?"

Levi nodded.

"Oh and if I were you, I wouldn't touch the walls. The paint still hasn't dried completely."

Paint? Oh.

Eren had _painted_ on the _walls_.

Levi was sure that Eren didn't know how valuable even a chance to be in this place was.

He sat on Eren's leather couch and waited for a while, until Eren arrived with two cups of coffee and handed one of them to him.

So Eren liked coffee?

 _Oh well_ , Levi thought, _you don't have to be a kid to learn new things_.

"The TV remote's over there. I'm just going to go make some Sakura flowers on that wall."

He took the tube of pink paint from Levi, disappeared into one of the rooms, and before Levi knew what was going on, appeared again with an overly large palette that had paint smeared messily all over it.

Eren started painting.

The TV remote remained untouched as Levi watched Eren with an intense gaze.


	2. Prayer 1: Don't let him remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, guess who makes an appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, wow. I never thought I would receive so many Kudos or any bookmarks and comments, so thank you very much to all of you who read this. Oh and, VERY IMPORTANT THING THAT ACTUALLY CONCERNS YOU from now on, I'll be accepting requests for Ereri moments (or just epic moments) or anything at all that you might want to see in the story, so tell me please. Read and enjoy, guys!

Levi woke up next to Eren.

No, not the way your dirty mind wants to imagine it. Levi was lying on the couch, and as soon as he opened his eyes, Eren was grinning at him, face probably a few inches away from his.

Levi didn't even flinch.

"What the fuck?"

"Sorry if I woke you. You just look cute sleeping and I thought I _have_ to draw that."

He almost gaped.

"You _drew_ me?"

"Well yeah, if you have a problem with that I could just toss it in the bin or-"

God, how fucking dense could Eren get?

"Can I see?"

"Sure."

Levi's breath got caught in his throat. This wasn't just a _drawing_ , it _had_ to be a _photograph_.

Levi looked at the piece of paper, feeling like he was somehow seeing his reflection. His hair was perfectly coloured and lighted, face half hidden under his bangs, some of the lines that were on his face even in his sleep having been outlined gently, smoothly even, his arm under his head, serving as a pillow.

He glanced at Eren, then at the paper, and then at the unorganized box of Prismacolours and Polychromos that lay on the floor.

Eren had to be a fucking genius.

Of course, Levi had seen many, and trust him with that he really did mean a lot, good artists, who could draw and colour so well anyo4ne would be stunned, and when they used the right supplies, Levi knew that their work would turn out just amazing. Eren was something else though; fucking kid could blend colours so well, not a single sign that he had actually coloured by hand could be seen, his realistic style making it look like a mirror image.

"How do you blend like that?"

"Blend? Trust me, it's the expensive pencils that do all the real work most of the time."

Levi fought with himself to not sound exasperated at Eren's ignorance.

"I've seen one of your tutorials where you draw with fucking basic Faber Castells and it still turns out like this."

Eren blushed.

"Oh well…I… it's a habit I guess."

Levi raised an eyebrow.

"Habit?"

After it became obvious to him that Eren was in discomfort, because really, biting his lower lip and squeezing the poor brown Prismacolour in his hand could probably be described as that, so he decided not to push.

"You don't have to tell if you don't want to."

Admittedly, Levi _was_ being a bit too straightforward with Eren. Of course, he remembered Eren, in fact he remembered so well it actually hurt, and he could trust him with anything, whether it be his security or his whole fucking _life_ , but to Eren he was still a stranger that had called him a brat and needed a place to stay. Even though Eren had his past feelings and instincts, and that was still a _theory_ , he knew nothing about Levi, which was probably why he wouldn't just give away such classified information like this away to him. After all, literature was art, and Levi was a writer, he could relate to Eren's hesitation to reveal his methods; he never told other people how he got inspiration or how he wrote, what mood he had to be in to write and what he liked to eat or drink when he was writing.

That was all classified.

Mikasa had noticed of course, being the perceptive girl she always had been, and Petra had known him well enough in the past to know, but that was about it, although Armin had started to build a general structure of how because of the frequency Levi visited his café with his laptop and wrote till his fingers were sore.

But Levi, thinking all this, was truly and utterly wrong when trying to guess how Eren felt.

"I grew up in an orphanage." Eren blurted out, eyes focus on the box of coloured pencils, hands trying to organize them, trembling.

"Mom was murdered when I was nine, and dad disappeared after she died, so I had to be raised there."

Somehow, Eren's words hit Levi pretty hard.

"When I was little, I only had crayons to use and never enough colours, so I kind of learned blending because of that."

Levi wasn't sure if he loathed himself or if it was just a weird feeling he had gotten all of a sudden

Why was Eren always the one to get the cruel fate?

In his past life, Levi had been a street kid, stealing and selling to live, always under danger of death by the hand of another human. Then, God had played a sick joke on him and sent Erwin, a fucking _soldier_ in the _Survey Corps_ , and that was how Levi had gained a cause for himself, a reason to live, and an actual life.

That was how he had met Eren.

Eren, on the other hand, had seen his mother get eaten by a Titan when he was barely nine, and had lived the rest of his life under the weight of the fact that he could've saved her. Of course, that would've been impossible, but Eren was like that, blaming himself for everything regardless of what.

Then, he had found out that his father had hidden humanity's salvation in their freaking _basement_ , that he could transform into a 15 metre tall Titan, and that up from that point, he was Humanity's Last Hope.

Humanity's Last Fucking Hope. A fucking fifteen-year-old teenager.

Levi knew that Eren had felt incredibly confused, having turned into what had killed his mother, and he also knew how Eren had hidden that from everyone.

Eren had hidden _everything_.

He had hidden his hurt after being betrayed by his friends, he had hidden his agony after causing the death of Levi's first squad, and he had always hidden his thoughts around _Levi_.

Kid had watched his mother die. Kid had watched his friends turn into traitors. Kid had watched his friends die. Kid had watched his _sister_ die.

Eren had been _forced_ to watch _everything_.

Now, when Levi looked at his present life, he knew that he had lived a better life than most of the people that had ever roamed earth. His first foster parents had maybe not adopted him permanently but they hadn't treated him like shit, he had had a bed, food, and liberty to buy things for himself whenever he wanted, even when he was young. When Petra's parents had adopted him, Levi had been greeted with a life of luxury, rooms of spectacular opulence, the most advanced technology humanity had to offer, whatever he fucking _wanted_.

He had been perfectly content.

He had found his old squad when Petra had started college and accidentally met them, and he had found the second Special Ops squad in Armin's café when Mikasa had blackmailed him into buying her a milkshake on a rainy day.

Levi had every fucking thing he had ever wanted now, since Eren had joined in.

Whereas said brunet hadn't even been granted his _memories_.

_It wasn't fucking fare._

"When I was about fifteen a teacher that really cared for me bought me those classic Faber Castells that you saw. Since they were my first coloured pencils, I know how to use them like they're my limbs."

Levi fought the urge to bite his lip.

"And since I never got any proper education about art, I didn't even attend university, I developed my own unique way of doing things pretty easily."

Eren sighed, finally having finished stuffing his pencils back in the box that Levi now identified as a shoe-box, which Eren had coloured and decorated of course, and Eren got up, which was when Levi noticed that he was wearing training clothes.

"Anyway, I'm going outside for my morning jog. It'll probably take about half an hour."

He handed Levi a fresh set of clothes.

"Those are what I wore a few years ago and they fit me pretty well even back then so they'll probably fit you."

Shit, was that an insult?

"I hope you like pancakes because I made plenty. There's cake in the fridge and I bet many other things, chocolate chip in the jar next to the stove, money on the counter, my laptop's in my bedroom, car keys are on the table next to the shoe cabinet, and here,"

He gave him the two keys that were held together by some ridiculous keychain,

"Are the spare keys to the apartment."

Levi looked at him, lips slightly parted, eyes reflecting incredulousness.

"You trust me that much?"

Eren shrugged.

"There's nothing worth money in here except the TV and computer anyway. Besides, what would you want to steal something for when I'm practically offering them to you?"

Obviously, Eren didn't know that a painting of his could be worth more than a million dollars.

"What keeps you from thinking that I'm not going to take your car and just disappear?"

Eren laughed.

"This is _America_ , Levi. You could easily get arrested for taking my car anyway, so you probably won't stray too much from inside the city."

Levi seriously doubted he ever would understand how reincarnation worked.

* * *

"Oh, you waited for me?"

Eren looked surprised.

"It _is_ your house, so I thought it would be rude of me if I started without you."

After receiving a grin from Eren, and Levi wondered just how someone could look that attractive with one, Levi put Eren's sketchbook that he had stared at for the entire half hour down, getting up and heading for the kitchen after the brunet. Eren prepared everything he thought was needed for breakfast in about five minutes.

Levi wouldn't eat breakfast like _this_ most of the time.

Mikasa had a very busy schedule so she would probably be up at 6 o'clock to eat breakfast, and out of their apartment about an hour later. Since Petra was still a student in college, her schedule was quite unorganized, one day she'd be sleeping till noon and the other she'd have to wake up before Mikasa, and even then she mostly just filled her stomach with a bowl of cereal or just tagged along with Auruo and co to have something outside.

Thus, Levi never really _had_ breakfast.

A smoothie, a pot of tea, coffee, or at the worst case, a granola bar was all Levi needed.

He found it overrated anyway, the last time he had had proper breakfast was probably before he and Mikasa had moved out, about eight years ago, when the staff at his parents' mansion still prepared everything for them. Because really, Levi's cooking tasted like gross most of the time, and no one, not even himself, was confident to try some, mostly because they were afraid to return home with a bad case of food poisoning.

Lunch would be different.

Levi always had products from the nearest bakery in his kitchen precisely because of that. What he had depended on his mood, really, but it was always something _sweet_. Sometimes a slice of Devil's Cake or some Strawberry shortcake it would be, maybe some Red Velvet cupcakes or Lemon Biscuits, and if he was in a mood good enough, Levi would make himself some chocolate or strawberry milkshake using the blender that Mikasa had bought because she was tired to go out to buy milkshakes whenever she wanted one.

Even his milkshakes had turned out as terrible messes before Petra -bless her, she was such an angel- had left him detailed instructions on how to make one correctly.

His sweet tooth was so sharp, Petra had written to add _extra_ sugar _three_ times.

And chocolate chip cookies were always his _favourite_.

So, staring at the giant cake and cookies on the table that had been placed next to a plate of pancakes with maple syrup, Levi felt like he was in heaven.

It just got better when Eren arrived with two milkshakes.

"Strawberry or vanilla?"

Levi would've said strawberry if not for the sake of his image.

"Vanilla."

Eren set both of them down and scurried away with an enthusiastic expression to appear again with a box of Ben & Jerry's.

"Tea's brewing. Do you want anything else?"

What did Eren think he was, some ungrateful bastard?

"Are you kidding me? This is the best fucking breakfast I've ever _seen_."

Eren laughed.

"Glad you like it. I made the sweets myself, so I'd be happy to know what you think."

Levi eagerly took a bite of the cake.

Then stuffed a cookie in his mouth.

Then cut a piece of the pancakes.

Eren was either the fucking god of bakery or had been sent by said deity to earth in order to award humanity.

"This has to be a joke. Are you sure you made all these?"

Eren nodded.

Come to think of it, he hadn't been much different in his past life.

Eren had always known how exactly Levi liked his drinks and meals. The raven remembered secretly spying on Eren and his friends one day, while they were in the kitchen, and Eren telling all the clueless kids how to peel potatoes so that Levi could actually eat them. Really, Levi knew that something as small as peeling potatoes had, at the time, seemed ridiculously easy to all the new recruits of Squad Levi, but it wasn't that simple when Levi wanted them peeled _symmetrically_.

And the fact that Eren had known just how he liked things was precisely why he had been the one in charge of brewing his tea whenever they had some, doing his laundry, and cleaning his office.

Levi almost chuckled.

And then it smacked him in the face like a Titan had hit him.

"How did you know I liked sweets?"

Eren was just eating an apple, wasn't he?

And really, from outside, there were three really good guesses that one could make about Levi. 1. Bastard looks smug but good looking. 2. Bastard probably killed a puppy before coming here. 3. Bastard probably has nothing to do with anything sweet that God has blessed us with.

But Eren in his past life had known about that, because the few times they had actually gotten their hands on some sugar, he'd always dumped half of it in his tea and used the other half to make him sweet bread after gathering all the needed ingredients, and the one blessed time they had found chocolate and milk in Sina, Eren had made him hot chocolate.

Brat had known him like the palm of his hand.

Eren thought for a while, but it seemed to Levi that he couldn't find an answer.

"I don't know actually. I just took one look at you and thought I gotta bring him some chocolate and tea."

And that clarified the doubt Levi had about Eren having his past instincts and feelings, which probably meant there was hope for him to remember.

Of course, you couldn't just tell an amnesiac person who they were, because that would all but fry their poor, already conflicted brain, and in Eren's case it would be impossible to tell him straightaway, since "the Titans in my books were real, humanity lived inside walls, and you could transform into a 15-metre tall Titan. Oh, and did I mention that we all died and were reincarnated? Well, now I did." wasn't really the most logical explanation, but they could be reminded slowly and given small hints. Levi was sure that the staff of Armin's café, Hanji, Erwin, the previous Special Ops squad, and _Mikasa_ of all, would be able to create enough indications and re-livings of Eren's past to make him remember in less than a freaking _month_.

But did he really want that?

Did he really want Eren to remember his past? Would _Eren_ want to remember? Would remembering that a Titan had eaten his mom do him any good? Would he take pleasure in finding that his friends had betrayed him and all of fucking humanity? Would he like his friends' deaths to plague his mind?

_Fucking hell Levi, those are pitiful excuses._

He didn't know which part of him it was that pulled him back into having control of his brain, but Levi realized what the reason for his hesitation was only after that.

_I don't want him to remember._

This didn't have anything to do with Eren, it was about _Levi_. Levi didn't want Eren to remember how he had beaten him in the courtroom, how he had manhandled him even after that, how he had chained him to a bed in a dungeon, how he had treated him like some insignificant brat, and most of all, how he had _killed_ him.

Levi didn't want that.

Levi didn't want Eren to hate him.

He knew that keeping everything from Eren wasn't what he was supposed to do, and that he was being incredibly selfish, but his desire to start over in a safe world was so great, he failed to see everything.

Humans were fickle.

And Levi had been Humanity's _Strongest Fucking Soldier_.

So, when Eren suggested they go to Armin's café after breakfast, Levi had already finished planning the elaborate way in which he would deceive every single person that had known Eren.

* * *

Armin was staring at them, Levi had caught him a few times.

He wasn't the only one either, Connie was in a _disguise_ , wearing sunglasses and peering at them over the newspaper in his hands from the table that was behind Eren, Jean was bringing him tea every two minutes in order to have an excuse, and Levi could already hear a few customers that were complaining about how their orders were late, which probably meant that Sasha too was looking at them from the small, circular window on the kitchen door.

_Perfect._

Levi got up with Eren's sketchbook, ignoring said brunet's curious glance, and sat down in front of Connie, snatching the newspaper from his hands.

"You know, if you have something to say, you should just say it and stop staring."

Connie looked _terrified_.

And all the better, Jean arrived with tea a few seconds later.

"So Jean, why don't you go get Armin and Sasha so that you can all spill out what's stuck in those damn throats of yours?"

If Jean looked any less terrified than Connie, then Levi was definitely blind.

So he wasn't surprised at all when the crew was gathered in a few very short moments.

"What is it that you've been staring at me for, shitty brats?"

Armin gulped.

"You were sitting with Eren."

Levi faked a laugh.

"That's not Eren. He's Ellen Jaguar."

Surprisingly, the one who dared to speak next was Jean.

"Either he's Eren, or Eren's long lost twin's incarnation. Seriously, did you see him?"

"And did you forget what we talked about yesterday?"

Armin had some sort of fierce look in his eyes now, no doubt because his brother reflexes were kicking in.

"I didn't. But that guy,"

He pointed at Eren with his thumb,

"Is Ellen Jaguar. Want proof? Here's his sketchbook."

He calmly put the sketchbook on the table and let them look at each page like they had seen a fucking miracle, patiently, but with his usual, bored expression.

"How do I know you didn't just buy this?"

Armin was clever, Levi had to give him credit for that.

"Because even I can't afford so many of his work without going bankrupt. And the last page has my drawing. Look at the date and the signature, then tell me what you see."

Sure enough, Connie, who had taken it upon himself to turn the pages, froze when he reached the last one, letting Armin take a good look at it.

"Besides,"

Levi almost smirked,

"Why would I want to hide Eren, you fucking brat?"

Sasha scratched her head.

"Well that's true. Good enough for me, I'll be heading back to the kitchen now."

Connie got up with her too, and Jean was called by a customer a few seconds later, so the only one that remained glaring at Levi was Armin.

"I'm not entirely convinced," he almost hissed,

"But I'll go along with it for now."

Levi almost sighed when Armin got up too.

"And Mikasa will be here in a week anyway. We'll probably see what's what when that happens."

Shit

Levi had entirely forgotten about _that_.

* * *

After Levi and Eren got back, they resumed their positions from last night. Eren made coffee and started painting again, while Levi just contented himself with watching him.

That was when Eren's phone rang.

"Oh hey. How are you? I'm fine. What do you mean? Seriously!? That's awesome! Are you three still there? Oh. You're such a party pooper sometimes. Alright, alright we can discuss that too. Yeah, I'm on my way. Got it. Bye."

Eren hurriedly put his art supplies away and changed his clothes, pocketing his car keys, wallet and phone.

"Ah, Levi, I'm going out to meet my friends. It's for business, so I'll probably be sober when I'm back. You know where the essentials are. Oh and if you get too tired of just sitting there, you can always go inside my studio and just- you know- look around."

With that, Eren was gone.

Excitement was bubbling inside Levi.

Ellen Jaguar was a living _master_ of arts, and Levi knew that even if Eren feigned ignorance, he himself knew it all too well. Being allowed to go inside his studio was a chance no mortal being in their right mind would refuse, and Eren probably wasn't stupid enough to trust everyone he met with his artwork.

Levi was honoured.

Honestly, he would've thought that Eren would have a gigantic studio probably as big as his apartment, and his apartment was probably the most spacious one that one could find, so finding that Eren had just broken the walls between four of his rooms to make space for his studio came as a surprise.

What he found inside was even more surprising.

Eyes.

Eren had countless canvases hung on the walls, and all of them were paintings of eyes.

There were other paintings too, piled in the far right corner of the room, a few tall stacks of sketchbooks at the other side, other boxes and pencil sets, which he guessed held Eren's art supplies, and a suitcase that he knew was a full set of Copic markers. Levi wondered vaguely how Eren could treat all these precious things (even his art supplies combined were worth a small fortune) with so little care, before his attention returned to the paintings that were on the walls.

Levi knew those eyes.

On one of the walls, Levi could see Auruo, Gunter, Erd, and Petra's eyes, on another Ymir, Annie, Berthold, and Reiner's, and on the last one, the eyes of the Special Ops. Armin and Mikasa's eyes had been painted on bigger canvases, so had Reiner's, Erwin's, and Petra's, but the biggest one, Levi knew even better than those.

His own eyes.

Levi stared like a dumb fish.

Of course they looked different, his eyes in the painting were a lot older, not to mention hardened, emotionless, maybe even _dead_. Levi could see pain and sadness in them, frustration burning like flames, and solitude just stuck there like an annoying fly on a window. Those were not his eyes anymore. They _had been_ his.

Levi knew that there was no similarity one could find between his eyes and the ones on the wall except their colour.

And he knew that it was the case with the others.

Armin's eyes in the painting were glistening with what Levi presumed was tears, Erwin's almost freezing cold, and Mikasa's actually filled with hatred.

Levi had witnessed those scenes.

But that didn't mean he wanted to _remember_ them.

When Eren was back, Levi was still staring at the eyes.

"What do you think about them?" Eren asked.

Because really, Levi was staring at them as if he had found his long-lost sister.

"I think you have a weird fetish for eyes."

Levi heard Eren laugh.

"Actually no. I always see these in my dreams."

He gave an unimpressed sigh.

"Amazing artwork, but I'm not convinced."

He laughed again.

"You're a messy artist."

"Cut me some slack, I just moved in."

"How can you even fit all your things in this small place?"

"Oh that? I have another flat just downstairs. I use that one entirely as a studio."

Levi rolled his eyes.

"Is that one as messy as this one?"

"Worse."

And he sighed.

"If you'd allow me to, I could organize both of your studios for you. It's only fair that I do something in return for you taking me in."

"You really don't have to."

"I _offered_ to."

"Well okay then. If you won't be bored or anything, that would actually be really nice."

Eren didn't know two grand things.

Levi was a clean freak, and damn good at hiding his emotions.

* * *

On day four, Levi started wondering whether he'd make it out of Eren's studio alive. The smaller one had taken him three whole days to finish cleaning, probably a hell lot of cleaning products, and on Eren's side, a few apple pies that he had baked (maybe a few other cakes and cookies), but this way, he knew that he could gather all the information he needed easily.

He was a genius, wasn't he?

Levi knew that artists mostly got inspiration from their dreams, or at least by their daily life, so if Eren had any of his memories, he had probably painted them, because really, them being hard to ignore, even Levi had written his books on those goddamned things.

So far, the only things he had found were the eyes, and since those held too many different emotions for Eren to recognize (and not to mention that there was a huge gap in age between them in the paintings and now) them in real life, it was probably safe.

Besides, Levi enjoyed cleaning anyway.

He had separated Eren's sketchbooks by their contents, put the watercolour blocks and coloured pencil ones in different stacks, and piled all his marker pads in a corner with all his Copics (which was a ridiculous amount really) found the previously discarded original boxes of all his Prismacolours, Polychromos, and Albrecht Durer's, arranging the poor coloured pencils that had all been dumped in a few boxes by colour. Levi had done plenty much the same thing with Eren's various tubes of paint, put the oil ones in the boxes that he had managed to empty after getting all the coloured pencils out, organized the bottled acrylics in a cupboard that Eren fortunately had, and put all of Eren's watercolours in a gigantic box that said brunet had specially coloured and added the calligraphy _watercolours_ on.

And that was only the things he had done in the _smaller_ studio.

Eren had promised that all he had downstairs were his soft pastels, a few art blocks, and graphite pencils besides his various paintings, drawings and sculptures anyway.

So Levi guessed that he was just getting started.

"What do you want me to bake today?"

Levi hadn't realized Eren was there until he heard him speak.

Turning around with the two cleaning dusters that he held in his hands like swords, Levi took off the bandana he had tied over his mouth (he didn't know why Eren had so many white bandanas but he had said that he cleaned with them too, a habit from the past Levi guessed) he looked at Eren almost with the eyes of a puppy.

"Cake?"

"Flavour?"

"Chocolate?"

"And strawberry milkshake?"

Levi nodded.

It was remarkable how short a time it had taken them to bond. Levi would've felt content to act around Eren the way he had acted around him in the past from the beginning too, but Eren, who had only met Levi a few days ago, was doing great with guessing what Levi liked and didn't like.

The sweets were one thing, but knowing how he did laundry, cooked, and that he wasn't exactly a fan of wearing shoes inside his house was something completely else.

Eren hadn't left when Levi pulled the cloth draped over that one gigantic painting.

Levi found himself staring at Eren, Berthold, Reiner, and Annie.

"Who are these?"

He was almost fighting to keep control over his voice, knowing that it would come out as an angry hiss if he didn't.

"Them? They're my friends."

Friends?

Ha.

More like _traitors_.

"We met in the orphanage when I was nine. Oh except Annie. We met when Reiner, Bert and I were freshly out of there."

Levi felt the urge to murder the three more than ever.

"Actually they're about to come over. Wanna meet them?"

Levi wasn't all that eager, but he did want to teach those bastards a valuable lesson.

The bell rang two or so hours later.

Eren opened the door.

"Oh my god Eren, this whole place smells like paint!"

Levi recognized that one as Reiner.

"Did it ever occur to you that I'm a painter?"

"Yeah, but isn't your studio downstairs?"

"I have one here too."

"You're _crazy_."

"Aww, I love you too."

Levi just stared at them from the kitchen, carefully so that they didn't actually see him.

"You painted on the walls, Eren?"

That was Berthold.

"I was bored and too lazy to go out and buy canvases. Besides, isn't bringing me those your job, Reiner?"

"Yeah well, I decided it was time I got a life."

"It was a wise choice."

And that was Annie.

"By the way Eren," Annie got on her toes,

"Happy birthday."

And gave Eren a peck on the lips.

A fucking _peck_ on _Eren's_ fucking _lips_.

Levi was seeing red.

"Oh my god, you remembered? I thought you had forgotten."

Annie looked offended.

"I'm not saying anything about Reiner, but Bert and I wouldn't."

Eren laughed.

"Anyway, we didn't bring cake because you probably made one already," Reiner sniffed the air,

"Ooh, new recipe. I'm guessing orange and chocolate. So we just brought lots of booze and your presents. You love us, right? Of course you do."

Levi shot out from the kitchen right at that moment, when Berthold started unpacking the boxes that held their booze.

"Ah guys, this is Levi."

Eren probably didn't notice how his friends were looking at Levi.

"Levi, these are my best buddies Berthold and Reiner. And this beauty,"

He put his arm around Annie's waist,

"Is my girlfriend Annie."

Eren noticed the tension in the air only after that.

"Do you guys -uh- know each other or something?" Eren asked.

"You could say that." Reiner hissed.

"Rivaille."

Annie had already gotten out of Eren's possessive grip, having a glaring contest with Levi.

And said raven was too angry to think straight by that point.

"Hey Eren, can I borrow your car?"

"Sure, where are you-"

Levi had already disappeared before he completed his sentence.

* * *

Eren was enjoying himself _tremendously_ , Reiner could see that.

They had just started the party, but that didn't change how good he felt even now. The plate that held the cake was on the table in the living room, next to bottles and bottles of beer, Berthold and he had settled themselves on two of Eren's black leather armchairs, letting him and Annie take the couch.

And Eren was just about to get his presents.

"Okay, this one's from Annie."

Eren opened the small package carefully, saving the wrapping in case he wanted to use it on something later. He always did that, collecting things that had patters so that he could copy them on his paintings or the various logos he designed.

And he found a small jewelry box inside.

"Annie, are we getting married or something?"

His voice didn't sound surprised, because really, Annie and Eren had been together for seven years, but it did sound confused.

"Not yet."

Annie's voice, on the other hand, was telling him _you_ _have to ask_ _me_ _._

But he ignored that.

Eren opened the small box and stared at the ring that was inside, unsurprised, but put it on with a grin.

"But we're _engaged_." Annie corrected, showing him her own hand that had the gold ring.

It had been no secret that Annie wanted to marry, and it was no secret that Eren _didn't_ want to marry yet either, so they had just settled on making it known to the public that they were _taken_. Annie probably wanted to make people know that all they could do was check Eren out, because said extremely hot man had an extremely hot girlfriend. Besides, Eren had agreed to getting married at _some_ point, just not immediately, so the term wasn't entirely wrong.

"Aww, you're sweet, but I don't want to see you two making out."

"I _so_ hate you."

"Feelings returned. This one's from Bert."

Reiner handed Eren a very large box that was wrapped in shiny blue, and Eren knew what was inside, because what they had with Berthold was a _tradition_.

"So what is it this year, Bert? Meissen? Worcester Royal? Antiques?"

Berthold gave a smile.

"Royal Crown Derby."

"Ooh, my favourite."

"I'm sure you'll like it, because it's from their new collection."

Everyone that knew Eren had at least a basic understanding of his love for baking. Passion, Eren chose to call it, there were times when he got so caught up in baking things he forgot to finish whatever work he had accepted for the month and caused a hell lot of messes that Reiner and Annie would have to inevitably clear, being his most trusted proxies. Baking somehow made Eren forget that he was on sweet Earth most of the time, he had described the feeling as walking on the surface of water, and as ridiculous a joy it was, it was one of the few things that made Eren happy.

Despite his outer appearance, they all knew that Eren was probably not so happy inside.

And Eren being happy was what they all wanted.

So, his weird habits were mostly ignored amongst them. Even when they had been living in the orphanage, Berthold and Reiner had made sure to save their rarely given sweets for Eren, and they'd get sweets about twice in a year unless someone made a generous donation, so that wasn't a lot, really.

He vaguely remembered how confusing it had been to find that Eren didn't have the memories of his past life. Reiner had waited for Eren to shout at him, a few accusations, or a declaration of hatred, definitely not Eren's whining about how he hated maths. They had warmed up nevertheless, because really, Reiner wasn't stupid enough to get his past life mixed with this one. Eren was a _friend_ now, a _brother_ , not the enemy, or the Coordinate, or a soldier.

And Reiner was no longer a _warrior_.

So there was nothing keeping them from interacting with each other.

Such was probably the case with Berthold and Annie too, Reiner guessed. He was sure that none of them, himself included, regretted what they had done in the past, but this was a new lifetime, one that they could spend as freely as they wanted, since they were released of their mission. And being honest, Reiner felt like he owed Eren this, since they had betrayed him in the worst way possible after years of close friendship.

Eren was finally finished unpacking the box.

"Dear God, I think these are the best I've ever had, Bert. Thanks."

Even Reiner thought this was the best tea set Eren had ever gotten, and he knew that in the following days all three of them would be victim of his calls to come and test his new flavours of tea and pastry recipes.

The teacups, the small saucers, the dessert plates, and the teapot all had the same elaborate design, shiny golden ornaments on polished black, and pink roses wherever it was empty.

He sighed. At least they looked pretty.

"And here's mine."

He waited until Eren came back from the giant showcase that covered one of his walls completely, knowing that he was probably trying to make space for his new tea set. When he finally placed it somewhere and sat himself on the couch again, he looked more eager than before.

Eren opened Reiner's box.

Much to his dismay, there were two other packages inside.

Thankfully though, they didn't have any patterns on them, so Eren just ripped the paper of the first one.

"Ooh, new Prismacolours. Right on time Reiner, I'm almost running out of soft cores."

He rolled his eyes, knowing that Eren had heaps of pencils from other coloured pencil brands, but still preferred the soft cored Prismacolours to any.

"You'll like the next one."

Eren ripped the next one's wrapping too.

"Is this what I think it is, Reiner?"

"Yep."

Eren slowly opened the album, looking at each of the pictures carefully, almost trembling.

"How did you even find these?" Eren's voice was shaky.

"Bert and I did a small research."

In the album were Eren's childhood photos, taken with his mom and dad. Then he could see the only photo they had ever had taken in the orphanage, Eren laughing next to Berthold and Reiner. The next few pages showed them when Bert and Reiner had started college, and Eren had first started painting, with a brush in his hand and paint smeared over his white V-neck. Another one was a photo taken when they had just met Annie, the next page showing Annie asking Eren to come to their graduation ball with her, and the two dancing at said occasion.

"Thank you- I mean this is…I think I'm gonna cry."

Annie smacked him on the head.

"Just drink your beer."

Eren laughed.

"I might be having the best birthday party I've ever had."

"What are you, stupid? This isn't even a party yet! Bert, bring the booze!"

After a while of wild drinking, a few truth or dares, and a swearing contest Reiner had engaged in with Eren, said brunet finally remembered what had happened only a few hours ago.

"So you guys know Levi?"

Reiner could barely keep himself from swearing again.

"Not really, we just confused him with Rivaille."

Eren looked confused at Annie's answer, but Reiner was grateful as hell to have that girl on their side.

"Rivaille?"

"Yeah. A thug. Reiner beat him up pretty bad the one time he tried to touch me."

Eren cocked an eyebrow.

"Are you sure? Because Levi didn't seem all that happy to see you guys either."

Reiner almost froze when Annie failed to answer that, but his old devious side took charge right at that moment.

"Did you ever see someone that was happy after being glared at by Annie?"

Eren thought for a while.

"…Point taken. A misunderstanding it was then."

Both he and Berthold nodded, while Annie, being the genius she was, changed the topic skillfully.

"So when do we get the keys to the apartment?"

Oh that.

Reiner had almost forgotten.

Probably due to a past trauma, Eren felt extremely uncomfortable when alone, to the point of hating it. Whenever he went out, one of them would go with him, and when they didn't, they'd always text him to make sure he was doing fine. It wasn't like Eren was an antisocial freak, quite the opposite, and even though he had proved countless times that he was perfectly capable of handling himself, he still didn't feel all that good alone. Having come back from a school trip that they had attended as supervisors just five days ago, Berthold, Annie, and he had just finished packing up to move here, which was why Eren had stayed alone this whole time.

Levi was a miscalculation on their part, but whatever.

"Actually I can give them to you right now, but mind moving in four days later? Because Levi is staying here and all…"

Reiner recovered from that in about two seconds.

"Sure."

And then it struck Eren.

"I wonder where he went…"

* * *

Levi felt like he was the biggest idiot to have ever lived.

How could he have been a fool enough to think that everything would be the same? _Eren_ had changed, _he_ had changed, the whole fucking _world_ had changed, and he had thought that their relationship would've been the same?

_Fool. Stupid. Idiot._

There was a weird pang in his chest, and even the half empty bottle of vodka on his table wasn't helping. Somehow, instead of helping him lose all his thoughts and relax, alcohol made all the pain he felt heavier, courtesy of the bastard watching everyone from above. He didn't know why he was so badly shaken, and when all the normal, welcomed feelings in his heart sunk down into the abyss and the insecurity of hopelessness took their place, because he had experienced despair countless times, seen what would remain when one lost all feeling of warmth and idea of truth, but never had he felt so lost, so in darkness, let alone this _fragile_.

But there was one thing that Levi knew at that moment.

Eren wasn't _his_ anymore.

It was as if someone was playing with them like puppets and purposefully telling him that Eren always belonged with those traitors, that even if Eren had chosen their side in the past he always would be one of them, that whatever he did Levi wouldn't be able to change that.

That Levi couldn't do anything.

Levi felt what it was like to be tied down, what desperation was, exactly at that moment, when his heart spiraled down into a dark pit that seemingly had no end.

And Levi held back tears.

Eren was _theirs_.

But Levi wouldn't give up easily; he just needed a good slap to remind him just what he was doing.

So, seeing the all too familiar figure of his old friend was, on his side, the best thing that could've happened.

* * *

Mikasa looked up from the papers she was signing.

She knew this feeling, it wasn't anything foreign, but it had been good long years since she had last felt it, so she was a little surprised.

This weird sensation was from her past life.

"Ma'am, is anything the matter?" One of her assistants asked.

Mikasa made sure that what she had felt was what she thought it was.

"No. Carry on."

There was no mistaking it.

"Finish everything as fast as you can."

Her Eren senses were tingling.

And Mikasa just couldn't do nothing and sit back while he was so close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was it? I wanted to give everyone out there the feels and I SWEAR THIS IS STILL ERERI. Don't kill me please.


	3. Prayer 2:Never unlock the cage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey people! Sorry for the long wait but here's the chapter! Enjoy!

**2**

Eren was two years old when he spoke his first words. Words had never made much sense to him, why would people resort to those when they could just look at each other’s faces? Expressions and images made a lot more sense; only they made sense, nothing else. Words were stupid, very stupid, and there was no need for them anyway.

 But if there was one thing Eren loved other than gazing at people and generally watching things, it was his mom, and she was dying to see her son say his first words. He was going to grant her that, no matter how much he didn’t like it.

 “Mama.”

 And the look on Carla’s face was just _priceless_ when he said that. She smiled goofily, and Eren knew what was goofy and sad and what was happy and what was excited because he had been watching so very closely, for such a long time. He continued to watch as she started laughing, sounds never had made much sense but he guessed that was a happy one, because her face sure was. Carla spent the day trying to teach him more words and playing with him, although Eren had lots of trouble with words and sounds and generally language, but he had fun, his mom had fun, and he was so exhausted when he heard Dad shouting that he couldn’t even understand what was going on.

 “You forgot to cook, Carla?”

 “Eren started talking, so I kind of forgot about that…”

 There was laughter, but Eren couldn’t see his dad’s face, so he didn’t know what type of laughter it was. He just assumed that he was happy.

 No he wasn’t.

 Eren turned around to find his dad’s face horribly twisted, and he was so scared, he quietly disappeared to his room, not coming out for a few days no matter how Carla tried to get him out. Eren didn’t like the way Carla’s face looked, all purple and blue, because it just didn’t go with her eyes and that color was definitely too sharp to be on skin and-

 Why did bad things only happen to Carla when he wasn’t near her? Was Eren a bad child for speaking?

* * *

**4**

Eren was four the next time he spoke, and this time it was a full sentence. He was mostly a quiet kid, he wouldn’t speak at all, or make a fuss, but that was only if he had something to observe or pencil and paper.

Speaking of pencils, he loved them. They could leave marks, came in colors, and oh colors, such amazing things! It fascinated Eren to be able to recreate all the things he watched, although it didn’t quite look the same yet, just the thought of such an ability made his heart race. That being said, Eren wanted a colorless pencil too, to see what he was drawing and what he was coloring, but Mom and Dad seemed to insist that he could only use the colorful ones.

Maybe if he asked Dad nicely, he would allow him.

 “Daddy, can I have that?”

 There was joy just like last time when he spoke, this time from both his parents, because oh my god Carla’s precious baby was speaking and thank God Grisha didn’t have a freak as a son.

They called Eren a good boy, and for the first time, Eren loved words.

* * *

**9**

Eren was nine when one day he came home from school and it was just so red. Red, everywhere, all over the floors and walls and his mom, and there was a note on the fridge, not his mom’s usual to-do list, but a note scribbled quickly with Grisha’s hand writing.

Words had never made much sense and he didn’t really understand sounds, but _you are a burden from now on_ was pretty clear even to him. He heard a loud noise, and saw a gun, and he just started to run.

Eren was such, such a bad child…

* * *

**12**

Eren was twelve when a policeman finally found him and oh god what was he doing in all the trash, so he was finally taken to a group home, with other boys like him, where everything was so clean and so much like a real home it looked like a vision from the past, a dream from far away… and with lots of sounds.

And if sounds had never made any sense, then math was just another story.

The kid sitting next to him, the one that was solving the subtractions at the speed of light, probably thought otherwise, but Eren saw it fit to complain to him.

“Man, I hate math.”

And the kid looked at his face like he was a ghost.

* * *

  **13**

Eren was thirteen when a couple first picked him up from the group home for a weekend. He had lots of fun, although there was no drawing involved, they took him somewhere with a really big screen and so many people to watch, the kind lady gave him hot milk to drink before bed and kissed him goodbye, and that nice guy carried him on his shoulders and bought him something pink called cotton candy- had that always existed?

He came back to the orphanage and looked for Reiner and Bert, having saved some of his pink fluffy treat for them, but they were nowhere to be found.

Eren would find out later from the janitor that Bert, always having been delicate, had collapsed, and that Reiner had locked himself in a bathroom cabinet, and apparently no one cared enough to look for him because hey that meant extra food didn’t it?

Eren found Reiner’s cabinet and locked himself in the one right next to him, not coming out until Bert was back, which was two days later. Bad things happened to his nice people whenever he wasn’t around, and if he couldn’t be near Bert now, he was at least going to make sure Reiner was fine.

* * *

 

**14**

 Eren was fourteen when that young literature teacher came to the orphanage. He was a year too young to be able to take those classes, but he would always go see her in break times, because she had so many expressions to observe and so many different colors that she wore and it was no time before she got used to him. She always smiled, except those times when she coughed and her hands would be red, and Eren just loved being next to her.

She was the only teacher that cared about Eren’s love of art and helped him hide his carefully chosen crayons from other kids, because they always got them dirty and Eren didn’t like that, and he wasn’t tall enough to put it in those cupboards that had locks without being noticed. 

It was a cold Thursday morning when she brought him that shining metal box of Faber Castell’s colored pencils, exactly 36 of them and Eren was sure because he had counted over and over, and she had smiled so warmly at him…

 She didn’t have any classes on Friday or the weekend so Eren took that time to draw something especially for her. She waited for her on Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, but she didn’t come.

 It was the following week’s Thursday morning when Eren was called to the principal’s office, and was given a piece of candy (yummy candy), the principal telling him that Miss. Something had died recently of tuber-something. Eren didn’t understand who that was and what had happened to that person until Reiner helped him put two and two together, and he didn’t eat anything for almost a week.

 Bad things always seemed to happen when he wasn’t around.

* * *

**18**

Eren was eighteen when Bert, Reiner and he finally got out of the group home. Apparently, Reiner and Bert had caught the attention of one of those charity organizations, and they were going to fund their college expenses. Eren, never having been that bright a kid in academic fields hadn’t managed to, but Reiner and Bert had refused to separate from him, so he had gone to the city with them as well.

It wasn’t long before Reiner and Bert were assigned a studio apartment, so most of their expenses were lessened, but there was still the food and the bills and they had to attend college and nothing really was helpful, so Eren decided that he could get a job.

He found one a while later at a place kind of similar to a studio; the owner was paying him little but there was also the chance to put his work in the gallery of the studio, so he gladly accepted. It was a few weeks later that he found out the owner wasn’t paying anybody else and just him, that the job only included the opportunity to have their work put on the gallery, which made him appreciate the job even more.

It was almost a year later when a guy in a wheelchair visited the gallery and stood right in front of his painting and stared for half an hour.

“Who is the painter?”

Eren timidly stepped up, and the guy laughed.

“Would you be interested in investing in this talent of yours?”

Eren at first didn’t understand what the guy meant, until he talked about education and paint and funding him, and then he was just overjoyed. He made a promise to contact him the first thing in January, and the guy smiled, gave him his card and left.

He was so excited he hadn’t even taken one day off of work when Christmas came and Bert was sick, so he unwillingly asked the owner if he could maybe work double shift after Christmas, to which he got a nod and a hearty smile. Apparently he was going to be there all night working on a project, so it was fine.

Reiner came home a bit late, but they exchanged presents and there was warm soup and some turkey cooked by Eren and they had some real fun, even though Bert could barely even laugh without his throat hurting.

And Eren got up from bed in the morning joyful as ever, heading for the studio.

Only there was no studio left.

There was the sickening smell of burned plastic, and guys from forensics running around, but not much else.

The police questioned him just like the others working there but they didn’t fail to notify him there had been a note left in there for him too.

_We are going to get you for your father’s sins._

Eren was scared.

He was legally old enough to change his name, so he did just that, changing it to Ellen Jaguar.

He packed all his belongings, and that wasn’t hard because he didn’t have many except a few pieces of clothing and his prized set of colored pencils. He didn’t tell Bert and Reiner, deciding to leave a note like every bad guy had always done, and he took off one morning without them noticing.

But bad things always happened when he wasn’t around.

He found out three weeks after he left, when Reiner showed up in his doorstep with Bert, that they had burned the house after the studio, although Reiner and Bert had thankfully been at school. They had **lost** their scholarship however, because of the incident, and if Eren had been any good with words, he would’ve apologized so many times…

But he didn’t, and Reiner and Bert understood it too. They didn’t press any farther.

 They started working at the same place, because Eren was not taking chances with leaving people alone anymore, and that was just it.

* * *

**20**

Eren was twenty by the time they managed to organize things enough to get Reiner and Bert back to college with half a scholarship. It was tight, and definitely not very nice, but they managed anyway.

One day, one fateful day, Reiner and Bert brought home a girl.

And oh my god she was beautiful to watch, with her long blonde hair and big blue eyes.

They introduced them, she was called Annie, and holy god such a nice name it was too, so fitting and so beautiful…

It was a few weeks later that Reiner and Bert announced to him they had a scholarship again, thanks to Annie’s father, who apparently did millions of dollars of worth charity for gifted youngsters, and owned schools from kindergarten to high school levels, where they were guaranteed a job once they graduated. He met Mr. Leonhard, and holy hell wasn’t that the guy in the wheelchair?

“Oh, Mr. Jaeger, so nice to see you again!”

And just like that, things were falling into place.

* * *

**23**

Eren was twenty-three when Mr. Leonhard first barged into his studio with mannequins and pins and a sewing machine, demanding Eren try them out.

Needless to say, Eren complied.

* * *

**25**

Eren was twenty-five when Annie asked him to go to their graduation ball. He smiled and laughed, asking her if he wasn’t the one supposed to ask, and she smiled back. He heard Reiner and Bert joking about it a few times too, so he didn’t pay that one time too much attention. 

“We weren’t supposed to have a grad ball you know.”

“So she is throwing that party just to dance with Eren?”

“Just to dance with Eren.”

* * *

**27**

Eren was twenty-seven when he went on a business trip to discuss the details of his new collection with the owner of the company, and Mr. Leonhard died.

And he, for the first time, cried.

He couldn’t recover as quickly as Annie hoped, because why for the sake of dear heaven couldn’t he keep the people precious to him? Did they always have to leave him alone when he so much as went away for a few days?

He didn’t understand, and he was inconsolable for a while, all three of his friends staying at home to make sure he didn’t have a panic attack…

Until that one night when Annie appeared with a bundle in her arms.

Apparently said bundle was her cousin, Ymir, who had been orphaned the day she had been born. Eren didn’t remember any siblings of Mr. Leonhard’s, so he was slightly confused about it, but definitely not able to think clearly enough to question Annie. She was three months old, and had nowhere to go since her previous guardian was now dead, so Annie had filled the forms to take custody of her.

Gradually it all became better, after about a month or so when Eren was finally fine with them going out. One of them always stayed with Eren just in case, because what if he freaked out, and there was baby Ymir too, who they couldn’t just leave alone with an uncooperative twenty seven year old.

But eventually they had to, because they had their exams for their MD’s and there was no way they could postpone that. Reiner still asked him if he would be fine, and he got a nod, and Annie gave him the instructions for Ymir. They took off with worried glances, and Eren rolled his eyes.

All was fine and well, Eren was designing a new logo for a toy manufacturer, and he was busy with that.

Until he heard Ymir scream.

He didn’t know what to do, was he supposed to hold her? Or would she shut up on her own? He went to her anyway, stood right next to her crib and stared into her watery eyes. She looked at him, still crying and screaming, and Eren felt something in his chest just tingle looking at the sight. He quickly picked her up and cradled her in his arms, and although he didn’t know how to do it properly, he guessed he’d have to put an arm under her head and hold her up with another arm. He rocked her small body as gently as he could, whispering something to her, and although words and sounds didn’t make any sense, he did his best to choose comforting ones.

She quieted down and fell asleep in his arms.

* * *

**28**

Eren was twenty-eight when he asked Annie to be Ymir’s co-parent legally. She gave him a weird look at first, no doubt thinking that he was joking, but no, he was serious as hell. She asked if he was sure, and he nodded.

“You’re not always free, so it would be much easier if we could share the responsibility legally as well.”

Ymir decided to throw him a fistful of porridge exactly at that moment.

* * *

**29**

Eren was twenty-nine when Annie, Bert and Reiner told him that they had decided moving would be best for all of them. Annie’s dad had signed the contract for a new school to be built right before he had died, a single campus with all levels from kindergarten to high school. Reiner and Bert were really excited, and Annie thought it would be good for Ymir to attend school there, where they could watch her, when she was old enough.

 They had one year until the school was completed, and Eren smiled.

“Okay, then.”

* * *

**30**

Eren was thirty when they rented a makeshift family home near the school. He had taken that one-year to establish very good relations with ten or so proxies that could help him do his work undercover, since Annie and co would be too busy for it from now on. He made himself a nice but small studio using one room, only taking what he needed and not all he owned, leaving the rest in their previous home.

It was functional enough for now, but Ymir was already whining about how she wanted her own room again, Bert and Reiner had to share one room (and although Eren didn’t hear the couple complaining about it, he wasn’t about to let them know he was aware of their relationship) and he felt a little selfish about how much space he covered.

Eren was looking for options already.

* * *

31

Eren was thirty-one when Annie and he finally decided that it was time for Ymir to start school. Eren dressed her up on her first day.

He somehow managed to buy two apartments from the spade tower, although having to show up for a meeting himself almost put him off of it. Oh how many dreams Eren had about that…

His home, finally, his and his family’s, only theirs…

* * *

**32**

Eren was thirty-two when all the paperwork for their apartments were finished, along with moving all the furniture. There were only the lamps and the Ymir-proof sockets that were left, which would take about a week to take care of, and then there was his studio and Annie’s study, but he could get those done in relatively short time. They’d probably be ready to move in within a week.

They were eating peacefully when Annie asked him _that_ question.

“Eren, can Ymir stay over at her friend’s while we’re on our school trip?”

 “Ahahaha no.”

People got hurt when he wasn’t around, and Annie, Bert and Reiner were already going away for five days. There was no way he was getting Ymir out of his sight.

“Come on Eren, I know the girl’s mother, and they live in a house with pretty good security. I checked.”

“She is five, Annie, not even old enough to tie her shoelaces.” 

They were silent like that for a while, except Reiner and Berthold’s sniggers, after which Annie shot Ymir a look.

“Pweeeeaseee?”

Eren fought, he really did, but those adorable eyes…

He sighed.

“What is the woman’s name?”

“Historia.”

“And why don’t I know about her?”

“Because well…she is pretty busy most of the time.”

“And she isn’t busy now?”

Annie didn’t answer.

“Tell her that I want texts with photos attached every half hour.”

* * *

 

And that was exactly why he had to sit down and check his phone. Historia was texting him, waiting for a respond, and he didn’t trust her enough to postpone answering yet. He slapped himself silently for going out to buy paint, why couldn’t he have stayed home and just baked something? Ugh. He walked a little bit more before he saw three cafes at one side, all next to each other, and wow, why hadn’t seen that before?

He was about to enter the first one, because the sooner he was seated the better, but oh god, there was so much noise. He chose the one next to it, the one called Café Titania, where there was no sign of noise and sounds and people. Yep. That one was better. 

It was so, so hot. Maybe he should draw flames on a wall? He liked flames. He liked anything that was red.

He sat down, not taking his sunglasses and baseball cap off just yet. He had to observe first, take in every small detail of every inch of the café, and determine if there was any threat or abnormality. Standard protocol.

He saw two kids chasing each other and a woman he assumed was their mother, because she looked concerned with her brows furrowed, eyes following her boys, finger tapping impatiently on the table, and she took very small sips, not able to gulp it down easily. Yep, she was definitely a mother. There was a guy right behind the counter, blonde and blue eyed and very tall, although not that muscular. He was texting someone, and with the way his lips were slightly parted, cheeks flushed and cerulean eyes glazed over, it was his girlfriend or wife. He had no ring, so probably girlfriend. Another tall guy with light-ash brown hair came out of where Eren assumed was the kitchen, since there was a small circular window on the door. He had small eyes and a long face, carrying a tray full of food.  Mph, not a threat yet. He quickly ordered tea, with a voice he intentionally made deeper than his usual.

There was shuffling inside the kitchen, and a black haired guy came out. He was short, probably not an inch over 5’4”, nowhere near his towering 6’3”, but Eren knew better than to underestimate him, seeing the shady look in his eyes, the careful steps he took, and the calculating choice he made of his table after snatching the phone from the blond guy, the corner table, as far away from the door as possible but next to the window, and as far away from the kids as manageable. Right after he sat down Eren noticed how overly baggy his clothes were; not tight and fitting like a practical and clever guy like him would prefer, not prim and proper like he probably would’ve liked it to be judging by how he had combed his hair to the side even though it was wet. Probably not his own clothes, Eren thought, which means that he isn’t a threat either. Good.

That was when another short guy came out of the kitchen, with vibrant honey brown eyes and a clean shave. He was shorter than the black haired one, and slim too, with no significant muscle build except his upper arms, carrying a drink in one hand. Eren thought that could be because he made cocktails. It resembled coke, but wasn’t quite as dark, so Eren assumed it was a cocktail. Alcohol, huh? Definitely not a threat.

 It was then that Eren deemed it safe to finally take off his sunglasses and cap, texting Historia back and remarking how horribly adorable Ymir looked with that Disney princess tiara. This one was going in the family album.

He texted Annie the photo, _oh my god doesn’t she look adorable?_ Annie took a while to reply, only giving him a _yes, she does._ She wasn’t one of those doting mothers, preferring not to spoil Ymir and bring her up harshly because Eren was doing the doting and spoiling for both of them.

 _How’s the trip going?_

_ Nice. We aren’t doing much, mostly eating and arguing with the kids. Thank God it’s not highschoolers. _

_You do that everyday._ _  
_

_What do you have against highschoolers anyway?_

_ There are just a few students I don’t like, that’s all. _

He gave a small chuckle and sent Annie an emoji to inform her of this as well.

 That was when he heard the clatter from his right side. Ugh, loud noise. Eren did not like sounds.

He looked over to see what was going on, to find the long-faced waiter eyeing him, his tray and Eren’s tea on the floor. He looked at his face, and honestly, his face?

Eren knew that look; Eren knew that surprised face, and he certainly knew the glimmer in his eyes.

That was the ghost look! The one Reiner and Bert and Annie had given him!

He was annoyed now. Was asking for tea too much?

“You- You couldn’t be-“

Eren’s heart nearly stopped. Had they found him again? Had they found him and his family? Oh god, oh god, what was he supposed to do now? His attention went back to the guy’s joints and chin and weak spots, calculating the probability of landing a hit on each pressure point and taking him out, but there was no need for that in the end. The black haired guy and the blond Barbie came to his rescue, both of them giving Eren the same look. Not comforting at all. The smaller one all but threw himself on the seat opposite his, and the other one took the still stuttering waiter away, into the safety of the kitchen. Eren heaved a long sigh of relief, but his heart was still pounding wildly against his ribs, not letting him forget the scare.

“Hey there, brat.”

He looked down at his tea, now on the ground, feigning ignorance for a few seconds and calming himself down.

“Are you even old enough to call me that?”

Probably not, they were the same age at best, but Eren was buying time.

“Probably.”

Hmpf. He added cockiness to the list of minuses on the black haired stranger’s part. He was smoking, Eren noticed, another minus.

 “You shouldn’t smoke indoors, you know.”

The stranger cocked an eyebrow.

“You have a problem with that?”

“I don’t, but there are kids inside the café, it would be better if you asked them.”

He knew for a fact that this was exactly why the stranger had chosen to sit away from the kids and next to the window, but hey, _he_ didn’t know that Eren knew.

 “They’re out of the vicinity.”

“Your choice then, superman.”

He quickly texted all three of his friends using their Whatsapp group.

_Guys I think they found me._

He looked up again, finding the stranger grinning. No, definitely not nice, nuh-uh.

“Listen, I'm really thirsty, and those waiters are looking at me as if I'm a freaking ghost, so I would appreciate it if you had something I could drink."

“Long island?”

Now he was sure that there was alcohol in that drink, and no sane man would drink on a mission, so maybe he was worrying for naught.

“You drink _and_ smoke?”

“Nobody’s perfect.”

“Well, whatever. I can handle that little alcohol anyway.”

There definitely wasn’t little alcohol in that cocktail, but Eren wasn’t going to give off a weak impression. The stranger got up and brought over his drink with a goofy grin. Eren hated goofy grins. He downed the liquid swiftly, already used to the taste.

"Woah, you don't look like the type to be able to handle liquor, take it easy."

"Nah, I've drunk heavier things. Besides, this shit tastes nice."

"I have great taste."

"Sure do. By the way, what's your name?"

Levi froze.

"You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm not. Do I know you by any chance?"

Eren waved his hand in front of Levi’s face when he didn’t answer.

"Levi Ackerman."

"Oh my god, are you the author of the 'Titans' Age' series?"

Levi nodded dumbly, while Eren screamed loudly in his own head. He loved those books! In fact, they were the only books Eren had read of his own free will.

Words had never, ever made much sense, except the ones in those books.

"I'm Eren Jaeger, nice to meet you."

"Excuse me for a moment."

Levi sprinted toward the kitchen and disappeared into it, leaving Eren alone in the café, now that the kids and their mother had left.

Eren took that moment to go over to Levi’s table and check the phone, just to make sure he wasn’t one of the people after him. He wasn’t, Eren was sure now, he had just idiotically somehow broken his car keys. He chuckled inwardly.

He sat back down, and Levi came back a few minutes later.

"Oh, you're back."

"Yeah."

"So, why are you wearing those oversized things?"

He just wanted to hear it from his mouth and be sure that what he read wasn’t just some code used by him.

"Long story short, my keys, clothes, and phone are in my car, and I can't unlock its doors."

"Sounds pretty shitty."

"It is."

 _Okay we’re safe I think_. He texted.

"Where do you live?"

"You know the Trump Tower residences?"

That was where _he_ lived!

"Which one?"

"Spade."

"Floor?"

"Top. And before you ask, left."

Oh my god, Eren thought, I’m neighbors with the writer of the Titans’ Age series. Someone shoot me.

"Good, we're neighbors. I just moved into the one on the right, on the top floor."

Levi looked pretty dumbfounded, Eren noted.

"I could give you a ride if you have anyone to open the door to your apartment."

He wanted to get on Levi’s good side now, because he was just such a big fan of his books.

Levi shook his head.

"Not for a week, my sisters are on a business trip."

"Unfortunate."

"Yeah."

_I’m taking someone home. Can I do that? Is that legit? Like can I do that?_

_You’re doing what?_ Came Annie’s reply

_Taking a guy home._

"Do you have anywhere to go?"

"Gonna call a few friends."

_ Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, sweetie. _

Sure, it had been more than ten years, but the amount of trust Annie had in him fascinated him even now.

_I won’t._

"Listen, I don't want this to sound weird, and I promise I'm not going to try anything weird, but since we're neighbours and all, you could stay with me for the week. I mean only if you want to. Like… god, I still sound suspicious as fuck."

"You'd offer your house to a complete stranger?"

What could he say to that?

Oh, but Eren knew. He knew that there was something about Levi, something weird that Eren didn’t understand just yet, something that drew him to the man, something at the back of his head that was screaming to trust him.

Just like how it had been with Bert, Reiner and Annie.

"Well, you look trustworthy."

Levi raised an eyebrow.

"That's it?"

"Y-Okay well, I might've acted a little too casual around you, but it's because I feel like I know you, okay? Which comes with a sense of trust, naturally."

And he wasn’t lying, although that wasn’t all the truth.

"And I checked that phone over there."

* * *

Eren started to trust Historia more. Must hand it to her, she hadn’t missed one single text, and holy cow, Ymir looked just so happy. So, when she phoned Eren and asked him if Ymir’s visit could be prolonged to a week, Eren approved. He informed Annie, and resumed his efforts in the decoration of the house.

Levi had chosen to busy himself with cleaning up his studios, thank god for the marvelous being that he was, and Eren wasn’t complaining, not really, not when Annie always complained about this obsession about cleaning and his white bandanas. He himself didn’t know what came over him in those “cleaning sprees” (Reiner’s saying, he was quoting) but something at the back of his head seemed to like the idea of purifying everything down to their molecular structures, and meh, who was he to deny the glorious thing that was the human brain what it wanted? Things tended to get messy a lot when your primary profession had to do with any form of arts and crafts, which definitely wasn’t helpful when you peeled potatoes and carrots symmetrically or took a whole day to wipe the floors of one room. Levi was the first and probably the last one to share his cleaning obsessions, so Eren made sure to bake him whatever he required.

He loved baking. His mom had baked a lot, chocolate chip cookies and cakes and spongy delights, and she would pour him a cup of tea, always antiques and delicate china porcelain, all milky and sugary and Eren wouldn’t even be able to taste the part of the liquid that was tea, the usually sharp drink’s aroma reduced to such a little amount. It was then that Eren’s love for baking developed, when his mom called him to the kitchen one day to aid her in making apple pie. Eren hadn’t known it back then, but sugar tended to soothe children before sleep, always put in their milk for this purpose. Eren had simply had too many nightmares to have it soothed by that little, so she had intensified it a bit.

Eren almost didn’t sleep now though, ever since he had found out about the magnificent thing that was coffee. Some days he’d stay up working on something, other times watch Annie and Ymir like they were not supposed to be there, like he was simply having another nightmare and it would all end, because a bastard like him, a sack of broken dreams and pile of unfulfilled hope could have never ever done something that could deserve him this perfection, but they were there, and they were his, and they were not leaving any time soon if he could help it. 

And oh yes he could help it.

After the last time those sick sons of bitches had come after him, he had learned how to fight, three different martial arts, and acquired homes everywhere in case he needed to escape somehow, and he never went to a meeting by himself, never left his family’s side.

He wasn’t leaving anybody alone anymore.

And it had taken Eren thirty-two fucking years to deem himself a good boy.

* * *

Eren waited for Levi after his friends left. He felt so, so guilty, so selfish, having asked his family to leave so he could make space for one guest, one single person that he didn’t even know enough yet. He had known Reiner and Bert for over twenty whole years, more than half his fucking life, and fucking hell, what in the name of cake and pastries and all that is good was wrong with his motherfucking mind?

Okay, that was mostly the alcohol speaking.

The guilt overcame him, filled his heart and consumed it quickly and went directly to his head, alarms rang in his mind and light flashed dangerously around him.

What had he fucking done? People got hurt when they weren’t with him!

He quickly called Annie and asked them to turn and come back because he didn’t give a fuck about Levi and oh god why weren’t they home and he was so going and fetching Ymir himself tomorrow, because fuck him and his promise to kingdom come, and he was going to get his family next to him. Annie, who could probably make out the urgency in his voice, assured him that they weren’t far away and they could go fetch Ymir tomorrow and it wouldn’t be a problem, because no one wanted Eren to start having panic attacks again, not when everything was finally going so well for all of them.

Eren really should know what his priorities are better than this, he really should try to understand what is more important and what is expandable, but it never makes any sense, none of it, until Eren no longer has it.

What was it that could make Eren get drawn to Levi so much anyway? That had never happened before, and it wouldn’t happen anymore, not now, not ever. He would get as far away from that Levi person as possible, never get close to him and never go to that café again, because fucking hell, nothing had managed to keep him away from his family until now and what the fuck was he thinking now, canceling everything out for some stranger he had just met, when he had finally gotten them the home they deserved, when he had been dreaming of this day for almost his whole life?

Oh, but Eren knew better, he knew a lot better than that. There had been that thing with Annie and Bert and Reiner too, that magnetism, that force that drew them closer to him and somehow bypassed all his security walls and all his precautions and made way into his heart, a place forever doomed to stay scarred and marred with the fragments of the past that had struck him like bullets. No, it was not that easy to conquer his heart, but these people… something was just amiss with how things had developed and progressed with them, because Eren wouldn’t trust anyone, not even himself that easily, not after everything he had been through. And the same thing was happening with Levi now, the same pull and the same push, the same unseen hand bringing them together, inch by inch, bit by bit, and it would be no time before Eren was tied and he would never, ever be able to escape, because there was no exit out of his heart that was so much like a cage. It would hold Levi there forever, just like his family, but he already had a family now, nothing to fill the gap in his chest was needed anymore…so where would Levi fit?

If he could, he would seal that name inside droplets of water, because it was free and light and always, always flowing, engrave it in there and never let it get out, because better there than sealed in his heart, and Eren would set those drops of shine and glimmer free, let it rain on the ocean and disappear forever and never come back, but he knew that he couldn’t.

All he did was hug Annie to his chest tightly when she came home, almost carry her to their bedroom, and immediately text Historia to let her know they would be picking Ymir up in the morning, as soon as they could.

He was not letting go, and he never ever would even dream of unlocking that cage.

* * *

 

 Levi didn’t return that night or the night after that. Eren was guiltily glad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, I'm taking requests for moments you want to see in the story. And should Ymir call Eren daddy? I don't wanna decide yet, so yeah, would be nice you say something about it.

**Author's Note:**

> So how was it? Good? Bad? Please do take the time to tell me. 
> 
> Oh and did anyone notice what I did there with Leviathan? Did you? Well, I'll reveal it in the next chapter anyway.


End file.
